John Heinrich Hull
What do you say about an individual who is a genius one minute and a small petty person the next? I guess I would have to admit that the genius side far outweighs the pettiness. His accomplishments attest to that even though there is "blood" on his shoes from those on whom he has stepped during his petty spells.
"Hank" Hull had a great variety of experience. He ran a rural high school district in Colorado. He managed a large department store in a large city. He became a full Commander in the Navy in World War II. He was Business Manager in Corona. He got his Doctor's Degree at the University of Southern California and then became Superintendent of Schools at Torrance Unified School District.
Hank's approach to school administration was rock solid. His ideas about how to communicate with parents and community were very effective. His relations with Boards of Education were right out of the text book--- until a Board refused to listen to him. He then became almost unbalanced and was most difficult to work with. I suppose all of us become disgruntled when we fail to convince others that what we are trying to do is the right thing. We tend to take our unhappiness out on those close to us. This is what happened to Dr. Hull.
It is the first responsibility of a school superintendent to work with his Board of Education and when that relationship breaks down the whole organization is in trouble. One must recognize the Board of Education is the dominant force in a school district and if they insist in doing foolish things one must help them do them. Administrators can only recommend actions and in the end, the Board's decisions must be carried out. Hank had great difficulty accepting Board decisions that were in conflict with his ideas but he really had no choice except to resign, which he ultimately did.
I remember one instance when Hank did an unusual thing. Mobil Oil had a large refinery in Torrance and was a major tax payer in the district. A new manager came to the refinery and, he was aggressively opposed to public education, especially to paying school taxes. Hank went to see him a few times to try and educate him on our operations which were among the most inexpensive in the entire county. The manager was rather rude and very stubborn. Hank then took a plane to New Jersey to the Corporate Headquarters of Mobil Oil where he got the ear of top company managers and managed to convince them that Torrance Unified School District was a live, effective, economically operated organization and that the local refinery manager was a handicap to its operation. I do not know what caused the action but within two months the refinery manager was replaced by a much more agreeable individual.
Hank Hull never hesitated to approach the very highest authority to solve problems in a school district. He was the leader of a group trying to establish a regional occupational training center in Torrance where a Navy Supply Depot became "surplus" after the Korean War. We applied for a grant of land and were finally given forty five acres of the depot site. A Regional Occupational Center was built there and has been quite successful over the years. Hank's persistence in this endeavor assured its success. He made numerous trips to Washington to acquire this site.
I probably have not emphasized Hank's positive work as much as I could have in this review but I had great sympathy for him as I watched him struggle to accept policies which were so abhorrent to him. I was so close to him that I caught some of the flack but I never failed to appreciate both his genius and his weakness.